Is this a bad idea?

d-van

Today I was offered a training contract at a law firm in London, starting September 2012. The condition is that I do my LPC in between Sept 2011 - Summer 2012 in London, which I would need to pay for in full. This course is really intense and will have so much to study that won't really have much time for a job in the meantime.
My question is, would it be a bad idea to get into this kind of debt or should I hold off for a few years and try to save up ? I have been left really confused by all this and would appreciate some advice. I studied really hard to get here and now it seems so unfair that I can't progress due to money issues. I never took out loans before so don't have any debt apart from a credit card - £300. What shall I do?

brokeinlondon

I wish I could advise, but I don't really know much about these career development/graduate loans. I think that considering you'd be working in law, £18k debt to pay off might not be that bad! I can imagine that your salary would be extremely good, and that you'd have plenty of income to pay off the loan when the time came, especially as you don't currently have other debts.

Is your training contract conditional on you passing the LPC? How soon would you have to start repaying the loan?

Annisele

The LPC might turn out to be less intense than you fear. Admittedly I did mine part time over two years - but I also had a full time job. It's absolutely not a walk in the park, but I strongly suspect you'll have time for some part time work.

If the London firm is paying Law Society minimum in 2012, you might want to be cautious - and try to find a training contract with somebody who will pay your fees. On the other hand training contracts aren't that easy to find, and if you'd get a decent wage in 2012 it might be well worth getting into some debt.

[Deleted User]

if you have 100% guarantee of a job afterwards (would you get paid for the training contract?) then it seems like worth considering, otherwise be VERY wary of graduate loans (there's little negotiation in repatmment if you cannot afford the repayments from the ofset)

Well done on the training contract offer though - I've heard they're hard to come by

D9

La_escocesa

Why do you think you would only get a minimum wage job in the meantime if you decided to work for a few years? You'd surely be able to get a decent paid office job if you are a graduate...

Me? I'd probably go for it and get a part-time job to offset a little.

d-van

Thanks for your replies. Yes the job is conditioned by me doing the LPC and the other condition is that I do it in one year so full time studying.
Anniselle I heard that it is very intense if done in one year, i'm looking to do it at The College of Law therefore living in London as well which won't be cheap.
Yes I would get paid for the training contract but it all depends on me doing the LPC first.
So this is my dilemma... and they won't let me deffer it, the training contract's start date is sept 2012.
Can anyone recommend a good loan provider, if any of you took out a graduate loan?

forallotherthings

Hey

i'm certainly no expert but I hear that training contracts aren't easy to come by - so for starters well done, secondly it might be too good of an opportunity to miss. also as said above you might find that the LPC won't be as intense as you fear.

mrsb83_2

An LPC at the College of Law is intense. I don't know anyone who worked more than maybe 8 hours a week.

I would consider doing your LPC at another CoL campus to save money.

Unless you get a job in the city, newly qualified lawyers do not earn anywhere near as much as people think. Be extremely cautious of that level of debt if your firm is paying you the Law Society Minimum, because you may need to take on other debt.

TCs are like gold dust, though, so I'd be looking to reduce my LPC costs rather than turning it down.

kate_pixie

You have my sincerest sympathies OP. I was in the same position as you 5 years ago, and after weighing up the figures I opted out of the rat race. Sometimes I regret it, most of the time not.

The Law Society minimum is ridiculously low and most career development loans require you to begin paying them back immediately, so a job is a necessity. Have you thought about maybe taking the LPC with a different provider?

I have no advice other than to follow your heart, if becoming a Solicitor is your dream and you think the sacrifice is worth it then do it!

Good luck to you. xx

P.S. If only people warned us of this before we embarked on the lovely shiny LLB ;-)

Nottoobadyet

I can only share my experience. I worked full time in a call centre all through undergrad (working at night) so was able to pay my fees and have no debt at the end. I applied for a masters at the end, not really expecting to get in to my dream programme. They accepted me, and I imideately asked to defer so I could save up for a year (my earning potential wasnt bad as I had become a manager in that job).

They said no, I couldnt defer. So I took the jump and went into debt (£13k) for tuition, and was the only person working part time on a very intense masters programme, though I was able to cover my (London) living costs. I was lucky and got a job straight after (this was in 2008, so granted just before the crsis got really bad), had paid it back within two years and am working in the career I've always wanted. Im very glad I took the plunge, though it was a bit scary at the time.

Lemon_Tree

you're very lucky to be offered a contract! I took my LPC back in the early 90's when they changed to a new version and doubled the fees to £5k. Seems like they've really changed a lot since then! I never did get a contract so it was eventually a waste of money but whilst studying i did work two evening jobs (7 nights a week in total) so i could afford to commute to York. It was intense but was achievable.